The right time to update your website copy depends entirely on your business and its journey. You’ll know that your business is constantly evolving and changing, and your website, including your copy, needs to keep up with those changes in order to be effective.
But what signs should you be looking out for that could mean your website copy is in need of a revamp? And how should you go about making those changes for optimum results?
We’re glad you asked!
Signs your Website Copy Needs Updating
Your branding has changed
As your business grows, it’s likely that you’ll also make changes to your branding over time. Take The Edwards Company, for example. Early last year, we decided we wanted to hone in on a particular niche and narrow down our target audience, thus a significant branding change that completely revamped the face of our business.
As part of this branding endeavour, we knew that our website copy needed to be updated. The tone and language we’d used no longer matched our new branding, and we understood that leaving it as it was could leave our new target audience feeling confused and our website disjointed.
To combat this, we kept the basis of our copy in terms of basic content but revamped the tone and language used to match our branding and the new reputation we were trying to establish for ourselves. By doing so, we ensured that our branding was consistent across the board and the website worked in harmony with our business once more.
Don’t be afraid to let your website copy evolve with your business!
Your copy is out of date
The best way to build trust between you and potential customers is to ensure you’re providing them with the most accurate information possible. For example, if your website copy states you can undertake a particular service, but your business has since moved on, and that service is no longer offered, it will cause some confusion. In turn, this may make potential customers feel that they can’t trust what you’re saying, making them far less likely to invest in your product or service.
Even things as simple as still talking about staff members on your website who no longer work for you or not updating the location of your new office can feel misleading to your audience.
Each time a change occurs within your business, ensure that this is reflected in your website copy. The last thing you want to do is confuse your website users when they’re looking for clear, credible information.
Your audience has changed
As your business evolves, so will your audience. It’s important to remember that the way you communicated with your previous target audience may not be all that appropriate for your new target audience.
Think of it this way – you wouldn’t necessarily communicate the same way with a five-year-old primary school student as you would with a fifty-year-old CEO. You’d change your tone, language, and probably the topic focus as well to ensure the information could be processed by the receiver in the most effective way possible.
The same should apply to your website copy. If you notice a slight shift in demographics, behaviours, location or preferences in your target audience, ensure that you update your website copy to meet their new wants and needs.
Your website is 3-4 years old
While updating your website copy should centre around your customers and their needs, it’s also a good idea to keep search engines happy to ensure you’re showing up in all the right places.
If your website copy has been static for a number of years, search engines like Google will assume that it has become less relevant over time and will not rank your site as highly as it once did. Updating your website copy and even adding more content puts your website back on the search engines’ radar, gives them more pages to crawl and therefore increases your chances of gaining a higher ranking.
Even if nothing has changed, give your website copy a revamp every couple of years to ensure it doesn’t get lost in the black hole that we like to call the internet!
Your copy isn’t encouraging conversions
When your copy isn’t having an impact on the number of conversions you’re seeing come through, it may be time to switch it up.
Copy that isn’t converting often means that the words themselves aren’t connecting with the reader. They’re struggling to see themselves in the problems you’re pointing out, and they, therefore, won’t feel inclined to invest in the solutions you’re offering.
Take a step back here and invest some more of your time into researching your target audience. What problems are they talking about? And how are they talking about them? Mimic the topic, tone and language they’re using to ensure they feel they’re able to relate to your website copy. By doing so, you should begin to see conversions pick up, especially if you’ve already implemented the four previous steps.
When is the right time to update your website copy?
If you’re still wondering whether now is the right time to update your website copy, we suggest just doing it! Make a few subtle changes here and there, ensure all your information is up to date and encourage potential customers to engage by writing copy that suits their needs.
The changes don’t need to be huge, but making them now could make a huge difference to you and your business a few months down the line – give it a go!
Or, if you’d prefer, please do not hesitate to get in touch with The Edwards Company team. We write valuable, relatable, engaging website copy to ensure your website has the very best chance of converting.